For a number of years, remotely controlled rearview mirrors have been mounted on an exterior panel of a vehicle side door. Adjustment of the mirror about a ball and socket type of universal mounting between the mirror and the mirror housing has been accomplished by a three-cable control system, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,003,271 issued Jan. 18, 1977 to G. N. Stelma for a "Mirror Assembly", and U.S. Pat. No. 4,027,548 issued June 7, 1977 to J. M. Cummins for a "Remote Control Mirror". In order to reduce the weight and the cost of the remotely controlled rearview mirror assembly, to eliminate the cables as a source of rattling noises and to improve the ability of the mechanism to hold the mirror in an adjusted position against the flutter and vibration caused by road irregularities or even the frequent opening and closing of the vehicle door, the current trend is to make the mirror assembly a self-contained unit adapted to be mounted at the lower front quarter of the vehicle door window opening. In the current production version the mirror is mounted on a ball and socket universal mounting and adjustment is obtained through a short three-cable control system actuated by a lever accessible on the inside of the vehicle window opening. Although the utilization of the window mounted unit eliminates the necessity of punching holes in the exterior panel of the door for the mirror mount and in the interior panel of the door for the actuating lever, some of the disadvantages inherent in the use of the three-cable control system have been carried over into the window units. It has been suggested that these disadvantages could best be cured by elimination of the three cables.
Remote control mirror units that do not use the three-cable system are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 3,934,489 issued Jan. 27, 1976 to J. Bottrill for "Rearview Mirrors for Vehicles", and U.S. Pat. No. 4,031,771 issued June 28, 1977 to D. Daley et al for "Vehicle Rear-View Mounting Arrangement." Neither one of the mechanisms disclosed in either of these two patents utilizes the single universally mounted lever for adjusting the positioning of the mirror to which motor vehicle operators familiar with the three-cable mechanisms have become accustomed.